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Calendar No. 233
114th Congress } { Report
SENATE
1st Session } { 114-144
_______________________________________________________________________
BREAST CANCER RESEARCH STAMP REAUTHORIZATION ACT OF 2015
__________
R E P O R T
of the
COMMITTEE ON HOMELAND SECURITY AND
GOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS
UNITED STATES SENATE
to accompany
S. 1170
TO AMEND TITLE 39, UNITED STATES CODE, TO EXTEND THE
AUTHORITY OF THE UNITED STATES POSTAL SERVICE TO ISSUE A SEMIPOSTAL TO
RAISE FUNDS FOR BREAST CANCER
RESEARCH, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES
[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
September 17, 2015.--Ordered to be printed
______
U.S. GOVERNMENT PUBLISHING OFFICE
49-010 WASHINGTON : 2015
COMMITTEE ON HOMELAND SECURITY AND GOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS
RON JOHNSON, Wisconsin, Chairman
JOHN McCAIN, Arizona THOMAS R. CARPER, Delaware
ROB PORTMAN, Ohio CLAIRE McCASKILL, Missouri
RAND PAUL, Kentucky JON TESTER, Montana
JAMES LANKFORD, Oklahoma TAMMY BALDWIN, Wisconsin
MICHAEL B. ENZI, Wyoming HEIDI HEITKAMP, North Dakota
KELLY AYOTTE, New Hampshire CORY A. BOOKER, New Jersey
JONI ERNST, Iowa GARY C. PETERS, Michigan
BEN SASSE, Nebraska
Keith B. Ashdown, Staff Director
Christopher R. Hixon, Chief Counsel
Patrick J. Bailey, Chief Counsel for Governmental Affairs
Gabrielle D'Adamo Singer, Deputy Chief Counsel for Governmental Affairs
Jennifer L. Scheaffer, Professional Staff Member
Gabrielle A. Batkin, Minority Staff Director
John P. Kilvington, Minority Deputy Staff Director
Mary Beth Schultz, Minority Chief Counsel
John A. Kane, Minority Senior Governmental Affairs Advisor
S. Alexander Fiske, Minority U.S. Postal Service Office of the
Inspector General Detailee
Bruce R. Marsh, Minority U.S. Postal Service Office of the Inspector
General Detailee
Laura W. Kilbride, Chief Clerk
Calendar No. 233
114th Congress } { Report
SENATE
1st Session } { 114-144
======================================================================
BREAST CANCER RESEARCH STAMP REAUTHORIZATION ACT OF 2015
_______
September 17, 2015.--Ordered to be printed
_______
Mr. Johnson, from the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental
Affairs, submitted the following
R E P O R T
[To accompany S. 1170]
The Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental
Affairs, to which was referred the bill (S. 1170) to amend
title 39, United States Code, to extend the authority of the
United States Postal Service to issue a semipostal to raise
funds for breast cancer research, and for other purposes,
having considered the same, reports favorably thereon without
amendment and recommends that the bill do pass.
CONTENTS
Page
I. Purpose and Summary..............................................1
II. Background and Need for the Legislation..........................2
III. Legislative History..............................................3
IV. Section-by-Section Analysis......................................3
V. Evaluation of Regulatory Impact..................................3
VI. Congressional Budget Office Cost Estimate........................4
VII. Changes in Existing Law Made by the Bill, as Reported............5
I. Purpose and Summary
S. 1170, the Breast Cancer Research Reauthorization Act of
2015, extends the Stamp Out Breast Cancer Act, passed in 1997.
The Stamp Out Breast Cancer Act authorized a special first-
class mail postage stamp to raise funds for breast cancer
research efforts. Under the program, purchasers pay a surcharge
of not less than 15 percent above the regular rate for a stamp.
The United States Postal Service (the Postal Service) remits
the extra funds (minus the cost of running the program) for
breast cancer research. The authorities under the Stamp Out
Breast Cancer Act are set to expire on December 31, 2015; S.
1170 would extend them through December 31, 2019.
II. Background and the Need for Legislation
Breast cancer is the second most common cancer among women
(after skin cancer) and kills more women than any cancer other
than that of the lung.\1\ One in eight women in the United
States will develop breast cancer over the course of their
lifetime.\2\ The National Cancer Institute (NCI) estimates that
approximately 232,300 new cases of breast cancer are diagnosed
in the United States annually.\3\
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\1\Department of Health and Human Services, National Institutes of
Health, National Cancer Institute. Report to Congress: Use of Funds
Received for Semipostal Stamp for Breast Cancer Research, Fiscal Year
2010 (Jan. 2011), http://obf.cancer.gov/contribute/
BCStampReportFY2010.pdf.
\2\SEER Stat Fact Sheets: Breast Cancer, National Cancer Institute,
Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results Program, http://
seer.cancer.gov/statfacts/html/breast.html (last visited Aug. 17,
2015).
\3\National Cancer Institute at the National Institutes of Health.
Retrieved from: http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/types/breast.
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To supplement federal and private funding for breast cancer
research, Congress in 1997 passed the Stamp Out Breast Cancer
Act, authorizing a special postage stamp to increase public
awareness of the disease and allow the public to participate
directly in raising funds for such research.\4\
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\4\Pub. L. No. 105-41. 111 Stat. 1119 (Aug. 13, 1997) (codified as
39 U.S.C. Sec. 414).
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The Stamp Out Breast Cancer Act requires the Postal Service
to establish a special rate of postage for a first-class mail
stamp, the Breast Cancer Research Semipostal (BCRS) to support
breast cancer research.\5\ The Postal Service is required to
sell the BCRS as an alternative to the regular first-class rate
of postage, and postal patrons may choose to purchase it at the
higher price.\6\ After deducting its reasonable costs incurred
for making the BCRS available, the Postal Service is required
to remit the remaining proceeds from the sale to the National
Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Department of Defense (DOD)
for breast cancer research.\7\ Under the Act, seventy percent
of the net proceeds go to NIH, with the remaining thirty
percent to DOD's medical research program.\8\
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\5\39 U.S.C. Sec. 414(a), (b).
\6\Id. at Sec. 414(b).
\7\Id. at Sec. 414(c).
\8\Id.
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From its first issuance in July 1998 through May 2015, the
BCRS has raised nearly eighty-one million dollars for breast
cancer research.\9\
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\9\Information provided by the United States Postal Service to
Committee staff.
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The Government Accountability Office (GAO) has reported
that the Breast Cancer Research stamp has been an effective
fundraiser, with funds raised through sales of the stamp
contributing to key insights and approaches for the treatment
of breast cancer.\10\ For example, NIH has used the proceeds to
support research into which patients may be most likely to
benefit from chemotherapy, and DOD has used its share of the
proceeds from the BCRS to fund Synergistic Idea Awards, a
program that promotes new ideas and collaborations by funding
innovative, high-risk, high-reward breast cancer research
projects involving two researchers working together.\11\
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\10\U.S. Gov't Accountability Office, GAO-08-45, U.S. Postal
Service: Agencies Distribute Fund-Raising Stamp Proceeds and Improve
Reporting 15 (Oct. 2007), available at http://www.gao.gov/new.items/
d0845.pdf.
\11\Id.
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S. 1170 would extend the authorities in the Stamp Out
Breast Cancer Act through the end of 2019. Additionally, S.
1170 clarifies that the proceeds obtained by NIH and DOD must
be used for breast cancer research.
The BCRS is supported by the American Cancer Society and
the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation, as well as by
postal consumers who have contributed to strong annual sales of
the stamp. The Committee also recognizes that with 23
cosponsors, the BCRS has broad, bipartisan support in the
United States Senate.
III. Legislative History
S. 1170 was introduced on April 30, 2015, by Senators
Dianne Feinstein and Michael B. Enzi. Since introduction of S.
1170, Senators Kelly Ayotte, Tammy Baldwin, John Barrasso, Roy
Blunt, Barbara Boxer, Sherrod Brown, Robert P. Casey, Jr., Thad
Cochran, Christopher A. Coons, Richard Durbin, Lindsey Graham,
Chuck Grassley, Orrin G. Hatch, Mazie K. Hirono, Amy Klobuchar,
Robert Menendez, Harry Reid, Brian Schatz, Charles E. Schumer,
Jeanne Shaheen, Debbie Stabenow, and Jon Tester have joined as
cosponsors. The bill was referred to the Committee on Homeland
Security and Governmental Affairs.
The Committee considered the bill at a business meeting on
July 29, 2015. The Committee ordered the bill reported
favorably by voice vote, en bloc, and without amendment.
Senators Johnson, Portman, Lankford, Ernst, Sasse, Carper,
Baldwin, Heitkamp, and Peters were present for the vote.
IV. Section-by-Section Analysis of the Bill, as Reported
Section 1. Short title
This section provides the bill's short title, the ``Breast
Cancer Research Stamp Reauthorization Act of 2015''.
Section 2. Extension of postage stamp for breast cancer research
This section extends the United States Postal Service's
authority to issue the Breast Cancer Research Stamp for an
additional four years.
Section 3. Ensuring that funds generated by special postage stamp sales
are used for breast cancer research
This section specifies that any funds generated by stamp
sales that an agency receives from the Postal Service must be
used for breast cancer research.
V. Evaluation of Regulatory Impact
Pursuant to the requirements of paragraph 11(b) of rule
XXVI of the Standing Rules of the Senate, the Committee has
considered the regulatory impact of this bill and determined
that the bill will have no regulatory impact within the meaning
of the rules. The Committee agrees with the Congressional
Budget Office's statement that the bill contains no
intergovernmental or private-sector mandates as defined in the
Unfunded Mandates Reform Act (UMRA) and would impose no costs
on state, local, or tribal governments.
VI. Congressional Budget Office Cost Estimate
September 14, 2015.
Hon. Ron Johnson, Chairman,
Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, U.S. Senate,
Washington, DC.
Dear Mr. Chairman: The Congressional Budget Office has
prepared the enclosed cost estimate for S. 1170, the Breast
Cancer Research Stamp Reauthorization Act of 2015.
If you wish further details on this estimate, we will be
pleased to provide them. The CBO staff contact is Mark
Grabowicz.
Sincerely,
Keith Hall.
Enclosure.
S. 1170--Breast Cancer Research Stamp Reauthorization Act of 2015
Summary: The Stamp Out Breast Cancer Act (Public Law 105-
41) authorized a special postage stamp for first-class mail.
The price of this stamp is 60 cents, 11 cents above the current
rate of 49 cents. The authority to issue the stamp expires on
December 31, 2015. After accounting for the Postal Service's
administrative costs, amounts above the regular postal rate
collected from sales of the special stamp are transferred to
the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Department of
Defense (DoD) to spend on breast cancer research. S. 1170 would
extend this program until December 31, 2019.
CBO estimates that enacting S. 1170 would result in a net
reduction in direct spending of $1 million over the 2016-2020
period, but those savings would be offset by increased direct
spending in 2021 and 2022. Thus, under the bill there would be
no net effect on direct spending over the 2016-2025 period.
Pay-as-you-go procedures apply because enacting the legislation
would affect direct spending. Enacting the legislation would
not affect revenues.
S. 1170 contains no intergovernmental or private-sector
mandates as defined in the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act (UMRA)
and would not affect the budgets of state, local, or tribal
governments.
Estimated Cost to the Federal Government: The estimated
budgetary impact of S. 1170 is shown in the following table.
The costs of this legislation fall within budget functions 050
(national defense), 370 (commerce and housing credit), and 550
(health).
Basis of estimate: Extending the authority to issue the
special breast cancer stamp would generate additional
offsetting receipts that could be spent without further
appropriation for research on the disease. The amounts
collected and transferred by the Postal Service would be direct
spending but are classified as ``off-budget.'' The amounts
received and subsequently spent by NIH and DoD also would be
direct spending and are classified as ``on-budget.'' The
budgetary effects in individual years and in each category
would vary because of the timing of such collections and
spending, but CBO estimates that enacting this bill would have
no net effect on the unified budget over the 2016-2025 period.
Based on sales of the special breast cancer stamp in recent
years, CBO estimates that enacting S. 1170 would generate
collections above the regular postage rate of roughly $6
million over the next five years. After covering its
administrative costs (less than $100,000 in total over the
period), the Postal Service would transfer those collections to
NIH and DoD in May and November of each year. In fiscal year
2016, for example, the Postal Service would transfer about $0.5
million to NIH and DoD.
Those transfers from the Postal Service would increase NIH
and DoD collections by about $6.3 million over the 2016-2020
period. Because spending of those collections would lag behind
the amounts collected by several months, we estimate that the
NIH and DoD accounts would show net outlay reductions totaling
$1 million over the 2016-2020 period and a corresponding
increase in outlays from 2021 through 2022. CBO estimates that
enacting S. 1170 would have no net impact on the unified budget
(including on-budget and off-budget effects) over the 2016-2025
period.
Pay-As-You-Go considerations: The Statutory Pay-As-You-Go
Act of 2010 establishes budget-reporting and enforcement
procedures for legislation affecting direct spending or
revenues. The net changes in outlays that are subject to those
pay-as-you-go procedures are shown in the following table. Only
on-budget changes to outlays or revenues are subject to pay-as-
you-go procedures. Enacting S. 1170 would affect on-budget
direct spending by NIH and DoD.
CBO ESTIMATE OF PAY-AS-YOU-GO EFFECTS FOR S. 1170 AS ORDERED REPORTED BY THE SENATE COMMITTEE ON HOMELAND SECURITY AND GOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS ON JULY 29,
2015
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By fiscal year, in millions of dollars--
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2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025 2016-2020 2016-2025
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NET INCREASE OR DECREASE (-) IN THE ON-BUDGET DEFICIT
Statutory Pay-As-You-Go Impact.................... 0 -1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 -1 0
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Intergovernmental and private-sector impact: S. 1170
contains no intergovernmental or private-sector mandates as
defined in UMRA and would not affect the budgets of state,
local, or tribal governments.
Estimate prepared by: Federal costs: Mark Grabowicz; Impact
on state, local, and tribal governments: Melissa Merrell;
Impact on the private sector: Logan Smith.
Estimate approved by: H. Samuel Papenfuss, Deputy Assistant
Director for Budget Analysis.
VII. Changes in Existing Law Made by the Bill, as Reported
In compliance with paragraph 12 of rule XXVI of the
Standing Rules of the Senate, changes in existing law made by
S. 1170 as reported are shown as follows (existing law proposed
to be omitted is enclosed in brackets, new matter is printed in
italic, and existing law in which no change is proposed is
shown in roman):
TITLE 39--POSTAL SERVICE
* * * * * * *
PART I--GENERAL
* * * * * * *
CHAPTER 4--GENERAL AUTHORITY
* * * * * * *
SEC. 414. SPECIAL POSTAGE STAMPS.
(a) * * *
(b) * * *
(c)(1) Of the amounts becoming available for breast cancer
research pursuant to this section, the Postal Service shall
pay--
(A) 70 percent to the National Institutes of Health;
and
(B) the remainder to the Department of Defense.
Payments under this paragraph to an agency shall be made
under such arrangements as the Postal Service shall by mutual
agreement with such agency establish in order to carry out the
purposes of this section, except that, under those
arrangements, payments to such agency shall be made at least
twice a year. An agency that receives amounts from the Postal
Service under this paragraph shall use the amounts for breast
cancer research.
* * * * * * *
(h) This section shall cease to be effective after December
31, [2015] 2019.
[all]
